Folding Box with Decorative Tab

ABSTRACT

A re-closable folding box of cardboard with at least one closure is made available, which can be closed by machine without the need to glue the closing elements. The closure comprises a cover flap with a decorative tab, the inside surface of which comprises first retaining means, and second retaining means formed on a body panel. The second retaining means engages with the first retaining means in the closed state of the closure in such a way that the closure is held closed by the force of friction, wherein the decorative tab covers the first and second retaining means.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority based on German patent application DE 20 2008 002 483.8, filed Feb. 22, 2008.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains to a re-closable folding box with an invisible closure without adhesive.

BACKGROUND

Folding boxes are playing an ever increasing role in the packaging area of high-value products such as creams and perfumes. So that the folding box can be brought into harmony with the claim to quality of the product in the package, ever stricter requirements are being imposed on the external appearance of the packaging. One of these requirements is to provide the closure of the re-closable folding box with an attractive decorative tab.

Known folding boxes with a decorative tab use a rubber band, for example, to keep the box closed. This rubber band holds the decorative tab in such a way that the closure is not visible from the outside when the box is in the closed state. It is also possible to use additional outer tabs, acting from right and left, to keep the cover tab closed or to use an adhesive label, which is glued to the closed package containing the product to give it its final closure. Alternatively, permanently adhering glue dots can be provided under a closing tab, which can be opened and closed several times.

All of these known closure elements suffer from the disadvantage that, after the product has been introduced into the folding box package, an additional packaging step is required to attach them. This prolongs the packaging process, increases the amount of material used, and thus leads to higher production costs.

In the normal case, folding box packages are cut to size, printed, and pre-assembled. Such preparation provides that the pre-assembled folding box must simply be set up in a packaging machine of the known and widely used type and then, after the product has been introduced, closed in the simplest possible way with the means available to the packaging machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved re-closable folding box with a decorative tab which satisfies the aesthetic requirements in question, which can be handled easily and quickly like a conventional folding box during assembly, and which does not need any additional closing means or gluing.

According to the invention, the re-closable folding box, typically of cardboard or like material, comprises a plurality of body panels and tabs and at least one closure, which can be closed by machine without any need to glue the closing elements. The closure comprises a cover flap with a closing or decorative tab, the inside surface of which comprises a first retaining means, and where a second retaining means is provided on a body panel. When the closure is in the closed state, the first and second retaining means are engaged with each other in such a way that the closure is kept closed by the force of friction. In the closed state, the decorative tab covers the first and second retaining means. Thus, simply by virtue of the frictional force of the intermeshing retaining means, it is ensured that the closure remains closed, but at the same time the closure can be opened again by actuating it in the opposite direction.

According to one aspect of the invention the first retaining means is formed as a retaining tab located on one side of the decorative tab, at least part of this retaining tab being glued to the inside surface of the decorative tab. As a result, a surface is obtained which, as a result of the intrinsic pretension of the cardboard material, lies close to the decorative tab and simultaneously can engage with the second retaining means.

According to one aspect of the invention the retaining tab is preferably formed by means of a score line on the decorative tab. Thus the decorative tab and the retaining tab form a single, integral part, as a result of which an additional external construction element can be avoided. The required folding and suitable gluing of the retaining tab can be carried out when the folding box is being pre-assembled.

According to one aspect of the invention the second retaining means is formed as a tongue and the transition area between the edge of the body panel and the tongue comprises open areas, which enable the first retaining means to be guided along the tongue. This has the result that the tongue can be formed out of the cardboard blank by suitable provision of score lines on, and cuts in, the body panel, thus eliminating the need for additional elements. The cuts, that is, the lateral boundaries of the tongue, are preferably dimensioned in such a way that they are somewhat longer than the width of the retaining tab. In this way, the length of the engaging surface of the tongue can be adjusted to suit the width of the retaining tabs.

According to one aspect of the invention the second retaining means can be a separate element which is glued to the outside surface of the body panel.

According to one aspect of the invention the blank of the inventive folding box consists of a single piece of material. Thus the folding box with decorative tab can be prefabricated by providing it with score lines, by cutting it to size, and by pre-gluing it in such a way that the packaging of the product and the closing of the folding box can be accomplished easily and at low cost by means of known packaging machines in the plant of the producer of the product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the advantages of the invention will be readily understood, a more detailed description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawing and described in detail below. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the flattened cardboard blank of a folding box according to one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the flattened cardboard blank 100 of an inventive folding box. The blank 100 consists of body panels 101, 102, 103, 104, wherein a glue tab 105 is connected to the body panel 101, and closing tabs 106, 107 are attached to each end of each of the two body panels 102, 104. A bottom flap 108, on which an insertion tab 109 is provided on the side opposite the body panel, is attached to the body panel 101.

The body panel 101 also comprises, on the side opposite the bottom flap 108, a cover flap 1 10, which, on the side opposite the body panel 101, comprises a score line 111, on which the decorative tab 112 is located. A retaining tab 113 is hinged to each side of the decorative tab 112 by way of a score line 114. During pre-assembly, retaining tabs 113 are folded onto the inside surface of the decorative tab 112 by way of the score lines 114, and their gluing surfaces 115 are firmly glued to the inside surface of the decorative tab 112. Accordingly, an unglued area which, as a result of the score line 116, extends somewhat above the inside surface of the decorative tab 112, is formed on the surface facing the inside surface of the decorative tab of each of the two inward-pointing retaining tabs 113. In a preferred embodiment, the lateral edges 117 of the retaining tabs 113 thus formed are in a range of approximately 0.5 mm-2 mm, and preferably approximately 1 mm away from the inside surface of the decorative tab 112 in the pre-assembled state.

In the exemplary preferred embodiment shown here, the second retaining means, which engages with the first retaining means, is formed on the body panel 103. As shown in the preferred embodiment, the second retaining means is a tongue 118, which is formed by a section of the body panel 103. The boundary of the tongue 118 on the side facing the closure is formed by the lateral boundary of the body panel 103.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the direction toward the body panel 103, tongue 118 is bounded by score line 119. The sides of the tongue are formed by cuts 120, 121.

Open areas 122, 123 are formed at the transitions between the body panel 103 and the tongue 118 in the area of the open ends of the cuts 120, 121. Cuts 120, 121 and open areas 122, 123 are dimensioned in such a way that they provide the lateral edges 117 of the retaining tabs 113 with adequate and complete guidance. In the pre-assembled state, tongue 118 can be configured in such a way that, as a result of a suitable amount of pretension of its material, its free end will project about 1 mm up from the lateral boundary of the body panel 103. This simplifies the process of pushing the retaining means into each other such that they engage.

The closing process during the final folding of box blank 100 shown in the preferred embodiment takes place after the pre-assembled blank 100 has been set up and the bottom flap 108 has been closed by the insertion tab 109. After the closing tabs 106 and 107 have been folded in, the decorative tab 112 is folded at the score line 111 by an angle of about 90° to the cover flap 110, so that the unglued sections of the retaining tabs 113 meet the exposed edge of the tongue 118 at the smallest possible angle. When the decorative tab 112 is now pushed further toward bottom flap 108, the exposed surfaces of the retaining tabs 113 engage more deeply into the cuts 120 and 121, until essentially the entire cover flap 110 is lying flat. The decorative tab 112 is held closed by the retaining forces acting by way of the inside surface of tongue 118 and the outside surfaces of retaining tabs 113, and the more firmly the outside surface of the tongue 118 and the inside surface of the decorative tab 112 rest against each other, the better the effect.

When decorative tab 112 is pushed back upward along the side surface of the folding box toward the cover flap 110, the force being exerted must work against the frictional and retaining forces until the retaining tabs 113 release the tongue 118. The closing and opening process can be repeated as often as desired. The open areas 122 and 123 have the effect that the exposed edges of retaining tabs 113 are better able to accept the free edge of the tongue 118; that is, the open areas make the tongue 118 narrower at the beginning of the insertion area. The cuts 120 and 121 can, in another preferred embodiment, be made wider at their open ends and made to taper down conically toward the score line 119.

As another alternative preferred embodiment to that of FIG. 1, the first and second retaining means can be designed as separate components and attached to the inside surface of decorative tab 112 and to the outside surface of the body panel 103. An example of this type of design is a tongue (not shown) attached to the inside surface of the decorative tab. This tongue would engage in a pocket located on the outside surface of the body panel (not shown). It is also possible for the first retaining means to be designed as an integral part of the decorative tab and for the second retaining means to be a component separate from the body panel, and vice versa. In this way, the decorative tab can be given complicated designs which meet preferred aesthetic requirements.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the decorative tab has the form of sections of an arc, which taper to a point in an essentially symmetric manner. Alternatively, it would be possible for the decorative tab have some other type of design, possibly non-symmetric, such as that of a company emblem, logo or the like.

With the inventive object, a folding box with a decorative tab is provided, the closure of which is invisible in the closed state of the folding box, which can be handled easily and quickly during assembly, and which can be closed without gluing.

While the particular re-closable folding box as herein shown and described in detail is fully capable of attaining the above-described objects of the invention, it is to be understood that preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described herein and is thus representative of the subject matter which is broadly contemplated by the present invention, and that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art. The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One skilled in the art will recognize that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment. 

1. A re-closable folding box comprising a plurality of body panels and tabs with at least one closure, which can be closed mechanically without the need to glue the closing elements, wherein the closure comprises: a cover flap with a decorative tab having an inside surface which comprises first retaining means, and second retaining means formed on a body panel, the second retaining means engaging with the first retaining means in a closed state of the closure in such a way that the closure is kept closed by frictional force, wherein the decorative tab covers the first and second retaining means.
 2. The re-closable folding box of claim 1 wherein the re-closable folding box is made of cardboard.
 3. The re-closable folding box of claim 1 wherein the first retaining means is a retaining tab located on one side of the decorative tab, at least part of the retaining tab is glued to an inside surface of the decorative tab.
 4. The re-closable folding box of claim 3 wherein the retaining tab is formed by a score line on the decorative tab.
 5. The re-closable folding box of claim 1 wherein the second retaining means is formed as a tongue.
 6. The re-closable folding box of claim 5 wherein the transition between the body panel and the tongue comprises at least one open area which enables the first retaining means to be guided along the tongue.
 7. The re-closable folding box of claim 1 wherein the second retaining means includes at least one open area which enables the first retaining means to be guided along the second retaining means.
 8. The re-closable folding box of claim 1 wherein the second retaining means is glued separately to the outside surface of the body panel.
 9. The re-closable folding box of claim 1 wherein the plurality of body panels and tabs with at least one closure form a blank.
 10. The re-closable folding box of claim 9 wherein the blank is formed as a single piece of material.
 11. The re-closable folding box of claim 10 wherein the blank is made of cardboard. 